To see the intro to this project, as well as links to other decades, click here. 43) “Out Here on My Own,” from Fame You know the title song from this movie isn’t really eligible for the same reason “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” isn’t eligible? Good trivia. I wouldn’t have chosen it… Read More Listen to America: The 1980s
To see my running list of the hundred greatest movie stars in American film history, click here To start this project, I began with about 750 names which I knew I’d need to pare down to 100. On my first pass, I only eliminated about 300 of those names, which is a sign of how… Read More Better than AFI’s 100 Years…100 Stars: The Near Misses
Dir. Todd Field. Starring Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek, Nick Stahl I had some issues with Manchester by the Sea, a movie which I found posed and a little preachy, but one thing I never doubted was the tragic moment at the center of the film. I never doubted the plausibility of Lee’s mistake which leads… Read More In the Bedroom (2001)
Dir. David Lynch. Starring Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, James Cada When I was in college, I took a class on environmental writing, which was the place I first learned about Aldo Leopold and Barry Lopez, among other folks. We got to Of Wolves and Men far enough into the semester that we were all a… Read More The Straight Story (1999)
One of the Grantland legacies I’m fond of, although I’m sure the idea didn’t start there, is the championship belt (RIP Grantland, long live Barnwell and Hyden). The purpose is to go year by year and create a list of who’s at the top of some field, which is a deceptively simple task, and one… Read More Anglophone Director Championship Belt, 1918-2018
The following is from my series of Oscar Best Picture rankings, as well as my strongly worded suggestions for what should have won from among the nominees. For an introduction to the project, click here. For a way to vote on some Oscar-related ideas, click here. If I’ve written a review on any of the… Read More Better than the Oscars: 40-36
You can read up on the basis for this series here, and also find links to other posts in the series. Movies I’ve reviewed on this site have a link in the title which you can follow to read my full review. 5) Groundhog Day (1993), directed by Harold Ramis “What if a man… Read More 100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Speculative, 5-1
You can read up on the basis for this series here, and also find links to other posts in the series. Movies I’ve reviewed on this site have a link in the title which you can use to read my full review. 5) Election (1999), directed by Alexander Payne. I’ve written this a thousand times,… Read More 100 Exceptional American Movies in 10 Genres: Young Adult, 5-1
Dir. Terrence Malick. Starring Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Ramon Bieri Picture links back here I’m not sure I’ve ever reacted to the end of a movie before like I did with Badlands; I’ve never been given a clearer, more concrete grip on character motivation and thought it obliterated the movie’s feel. (The last movie I… Read More Badlands (1973)
Dir. Oliver Stone. Starring Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, and Joe Pesci I was looking through the Wikipedia article for The Da Vinci Code recently, and I was surprised/not surprised to find that there’s a Wikipedia page for “Criticism of The Da Vinci Code.” Without really reading the article, one can guess at its contents… Read More JFK (1991)
Seeing Things Secondhand 